Presentation | Glenn Ward

Using Video in Market Research, Reporting and Presentations

I have written a guest post on the GfK Techtalk blog on the many ways in which we are using video in a Market Research and what the future might hold. obviously not given away all the juicy bits but hopefully its a good read.
p style=text-align: left;a title=Innovations in video improve business decision making href=http://www.gfktechtalk.com/2010/08/26/innovations-in-video-improve-business-decision-making/ target=_blankRead it here/a/p
p style=text-align: center;
object classid=clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000 width=480 height=385 codebase=http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0param name=allowFullScreen value=true /param name=allowscriptaccess value=always /param name=src value=http://www.youtube.com/v/jH5fmL3sJrg?fs=1hl=en_GB /param name=allowfullscreen value=true /embed type=application/x-shockwave-flash width=480 height=385 src=http://www.youtube.com/v/jH5fmL3sJrg?fs=1hl=en_GB allowscriptaccess=always allowfullscreen=true/embed/object

p style=text-align: left;Also see the a title=GfK FilmWorks Youtube Channel href=http://www.youtube.com/user/GfKFilmWorks target=_blankGfK FilmWorks YouTube Channel/a/p
p style=text-align: center;code /code/p

Should we be filming in HD for corporate / presentation video output?

The time has come to make the decision. HD or not to HD? And for those still getting mixed up, HD is High Definition and HDD is Hard Disc Drive, be sure you know the difference when you are purchasing you video camera! For a few reasons I have still been shooting in SD (Standard Definition) for corporate and by corporate I mean presentation video output (video for PowerPoint etc) File size being one, especially as I have footage backed up from my edit suite to a server daily and then an off site tape backup. Also, shooting to DV tapes provided a simple short term backup solution. Many of the videos produced are also not to be viewed on a television but accompanying information on a PowerPoint slide, so is often shown at in smaller dimension.

The thing is, more and more, stand alone presentation pieces are played on the desktop or from an online portal with the ability to display at full screen, now obviously standard definition is 720 x 576 against most monitor screen dimensions being at least 1024 px wide, in which case a SD is stretched to fit the screen causing massive pixelation.

A point to note that file compression is much better than it used to be so producing HD videos as mpeg4 with a h.264 codec has less file size implications and doesn’t cause your machine to grind to a halt when you try and play it back on desktop software.

My final point in my HD or not to HD argument that is fast leaning toward A HD win is that of Hardware. Even prosumer HDD cameras like the Everio have moved away from mere TV playback through your AV cables but not record in edit suite friendly formats. This means, drag and drop functionality that saves hours on your production work flow and produces better output.

Event / Conference #Hashtagging – The twitter conversation in the audience

I have now a couple of times been asked how tweeting using a hashtag can be applied to the event / conference / debate situation. I was at a debate the other month where I experienced this for the first time. A hashtag to the event is given out before hand so that everyone in the audience or even those who are interested in the event could search the keyword and see a stream if you like from the people in the room or as I mentioned those people who could not be in the room but would like to comment on what was going on. The result was a conversation around the conversation / presentation and a commentary for those who couldn’t attend without too many rude interruption to the preceding. Often someone in the audience may have a comment but aren’t quite brave enough to develop this into a question, this provides a harmless way for them to offer their thoughts to those thinking along the same lines.